Walt Disney — Dreams

Gloria Steinem — Dreaming

Most of us underestimate the power and importance of dreaming — whether we are talking about day dreaming or sleep dreaming. Sleep dreaming is one of my favorite times, especially in the twilight world between being awake or being asleep. Dreams can feel so real and meaningful. 

Years ago I kept a dream journal where I would record my dreams. I have documented proof that I dreamed of marrying my wife a month before I met her. So I do believe that dreams can predict the future. I have experienced the excitement of possibilities. Dreams are small windows into our souls.

Day dreaming is a way to explore your options and to find the right path. Day dreaming helps creative leaders make decisions and take action. As Steinem says, day dreaming is a form of planning, a way of preparing for what is to come. Our minds are very powerful and we can see things with our mind's eye before they happen.

Have you ever gone to sleep thinking of some problem and woke up with the answer? You need to learn to harness the power of your dreams to help you creatively solve problems. You need to increase your involvement with dreams. 

My wife at a very young age discovered that she had the ability to consciously change her dreams. If she did not like where her dreams were going she would change them while dreaming. Today we call it lucid dreaming.

Theodore Roethke — Being, not doing

I must confess that being is very difficult for me. For years I have been caught up in the culture of doing — setting goals and working to achieve those goals. I find it very difficult to sit and just be. I must at the very least doodle. If I go on vacation, it often takes me a week to relax and forget my day job. But I still feel I must be doing something. Write. Draw. Read. Produce something of value. Rarely can I just be.  I simply cannot sit and doing nothing.  My thoughts continue to flow.

How about you? Are you caught up in the culture of doing or have you learned like Roethke to enjoy just being?

Here is my favorite Theodore Roethke poem. I love the first three lines. This is a poem to be read out loud. Listen to the interaction of sounds.

The Waking

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I learn by going where I have to go.

Jim Rohn — Discipline

We all have dreams and most of us never act on our dreams.  We find excuses and reasons why we can't do something.  We focus on all the obstacles we see in front of us.  Dreams may inspire us to act for a day or two, but it takes discipline to keep writing and painting.  And this goes for successful writers and painters as well as beginners.  

I have read stories of successful writers and painters who stop working.  The first book or two made them a celebrity and they never finish the next book.  They get caught up in the celebrity of being a writer.  Being a creative leader requires discipline to sit down at the computer, to stand at that easel, or to sit at the piano.  

Do you have the discipline to accomplish your dreams?  Do you rise before everyone in your family so that you can spend an hour or two working on your art?  Or do you stay up after everyone else has gone to bed?  Do you do what many others only dream about?  

Creative leaders can become easily sidetracked by the next creative thought or the next creative idea. We are attracted to the energy within new creative ideas. It is a emotional high and can be addictive. If we are not careful we will jump from one idea to the next and never finish what we have started. Creative leaders must master the art of self-discipline if they are to be successful.

Are you struggling with your dreams or have you mastered the art of self-discipline? Do you procrastinate and never finish what you start or do you bring your projects in on time? Do you let the pleasure of the moment keep you from doing the work you were meant to do? Do you let the joy of new ideas get in the way of completing your work? Remember self-discipline is the key to your success.

Dr. Benjamin Mays — Goals

Research shows that only about 2% of Americans write goals.  I was 35 years old when I first heard about the importance of goal-setting in achieving one's dreams. In college I had dreamed of being a writer but at 35 was far from my dream. I had only written about 200 poems in 15 years. I set a goal to write a poem a day for a year. That year I wrote over 400 poems.

If you want to achieve your dreams, you need to turn them into goals.  Goals are dreams with deadlines.  Some creative leaders don't want to set goals because they are afraid they will not reach them. But the truth is that people achieve more when they have goals then when they don't. You may not reach the goal you set but you will come closer than if you had no goal. And as many people learn, the joy is in working to achieve the goal, not in actually achieving it. And when goal-setters reach their goal, they quickly set a new goal. 

I once met a 101 year old man who was writing his first book using a laptop computer in a nursing home. I visited that nursing home a couple of years later and the man, then 103, was writing his second book. What goals have you set for yourself? Your work? Your life?

Dr. Benjamin Mays must have been a master goal-setter for all that he accomplished. Mays was the youngest of eight children born to tenant farmers and former slaves in South Carolina. He earned a B.A. from Bates College in Maine, a Masters and a Ph.d in religion from the University of Chicago. He received almost 30 honorary doctorates in his lifetime. He was an ordained Baptist minister and an educator. He became President of Morehouse College in 1940, a post he held for 27 years. Mays wrote nearly 2,000 articles and nine books includingThe Negro's Church, the first sociological study of African-American religion. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who graduated from Morehouse in 1948, called Mays his "spiritual mentor" and "intellectual father." 

Childhood home of Benjamin Mays

Milton Berle — Build a Door

Many times we have to make our own opportunities. People often complain that they were not given a chance. They fall into "If Only"thinking: "If only I could have gone to school." "If only my boss would have promoted me." "If only my parents loved me." "If only I had a job." "If only someone would publish my book." If only. . . . If only. . . . If only. . . . 

If you are going to achieve your dreams and accomplish your goals, you must move beyond "If Only" thinking to "Opportunity" thinking. You must build your own doors and knock on them.

What doors can you build today that you can knock on tomorrow? Building the door to opportunity does not just happen by accident. It takes hard work, belief in oneself and persistence.

Wilma Rudolph

We all have dreams, things that we want to accomplish in our lives, but many of us give up too soon. We don't have the commitment to achieve what we dream of achieving. To be an artist in a world where you have to have a 9 - 5 job in order to pay the bills requires commitment. You have to get up earlier than everyone else or go to bed later than everyone else in your family. You have to steal minutes wherever you can to write, to draw, to paint, to dance. 

Sometimes we have to create in isolation, without contact with other creative souls. We have to force ourselves to write even when our body and mind is finding ways to procrastinate. Many of us don't have people in our lives encouraging us to create. In fact, we may have people telling us to get a real job. We have to be our own coach and cheerleader. We have to be willing to do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do? Have you the commitment to be a creative leader?

Discipline is one of the keys to being an artist or a writer. One needs to work every day. People often say: "I work when I am inspired." If you wait until you are inspired, you will be waiting a long time. If you work whether you are inspired or not, you will find that soon inspiration will become a constant companion. Work opens up the creative spirit and the inspiration flows. So my message is simple: work every day even if it is for only 15 minutes.

Success comes from work. Work when you are sad. Work when you are happy. Work when you don't feel like it. Work when you want to go to a movie. Our minds are very good at finding excuses for not working. "I have to do the dishes." "I have to wash the clothes." And the list goes on. Work takes discipline and will power. 

Since you have no boss but yourself, you have to hold yourself accountable. Schedule your hours when you are most creative and stick to your schedule. Maybe you write between 5 am and 6 am. Or if you have the luxury, schedule your work hours from 8 am to 5 pm with an hour off for lunch. Some writers write in the morning and do their research and marketing in the afternoon. You have to find the schedule that best fits your temperament.

Creative leaders sometimes struggle with discipline. They procrastinate. They know they should pick up the pen and write or pick up the paint brush and paint, but they find excuses. When you find yourself procrastinating, remember what you want. What is your dream? What is it you want to accomplish? Why are you here? Focus on your goals and you will have the discipline to do what you need to do.

We all have dreams and goals but many of us never achieve them because we have not mastered the art of self-discipline. I define self-discipline as sacrificing short-term pleasure for the achievement of long-term goals. If you want to be a novelist but you never seem to find the time to write, you will never write your novel. If you want to be a painter but spend your time partying with friends and not painting, you may never produce any great paintings. The arts require a lot of self-discipline. We need to be able to sacrifice the pleasure of the moment for the achievement of long-term success.

What are you willing to sacrifice for your creative work? What are you willing to give up? Life is never easy. There are many days when you will take one step forward and three backwards. Do you have the stubbornness to keep going even when you see very little light at the end of the tunnel?

The creative arts are not for the weak of will. The creative arts require commitment, persistence and self-discipline in the face of cold-hearted rejection. Do you have the self-discipline to stay focused when the world is screaming that you should quit and find a normal line of work? Do you have the strength to keep going when you have received 250 rejection letters? How long are you willing to wait for success? Two years? Five years? Ten? Twenty?

Zig Ziglar

Note to Reader:
(This blog post marks the fifth anniversary of my blog, Monday Morning Motivation.  I wrote my first post on August 7, 2010.  The first two years I posted daily.  The last three years I have posted weekly.  I have received over a quarter of a million page views during these five years.  So, thanks to everyone who has stopped by.)


I was 35 years old when I first heard about the importance of goal-setting in achieving one's dreams. In college I had dreamed of being a writer but at 35 was far from my dream. I had only written about 200 poems in 15 years. I set a goal to write a poem a day for a year. That year I wrote over 400 poems.

Now, after more than 30 years of setting goals and writing thousands of poems, I have come to understand what Ziglar means in this quote.  The person I have become through the process of struggling to achieve my goals is more important than whether I did or did not achieve my goals.  The journey, as others have said, is more important than the destination.

So, how has achieving my goals made me a better person, a better writer?  Has my journey been more important then my destination?  

My creative journey has given me a greater appreciation for the struggle of all creative individuals.  I understand what it means to be an artist or a writer.  I am less willing to criticize the creative works of others.  Yes, some of us may be more skilled than others, but we all have creative forces running through our veins.  I know what it means to put pen to paper or paint brush to canvas and not find an audience for my work.

I have a greater appreciation of the creative energy that drives my being.  If I don't write or draw, I become melancholy.  I need to expend my creative energy.  The more I create the happier I become.  Failure to create leaves me lifeless, empty.

I have gained the ability to create anywhere and anytime.  I can write a poem while sitting in a mall while my wife shops.  I can write in church while the minister is preaching.  I can doodle while sitting in a business meeting.  I can take a walk at 6 a.m. and compose a poem.  Creating works of art has for me become a way of life, not a destination.

And most importantly, through my creativity I have found spiritual healing and understanding.  As a teenager, I was troubled by the hypocrisy of church members.  Writing has helped me see beyond the hypocrisy and to gain an understanding of the hearts of others.  I am a better person for the time I have spent creating.

Have you set goals for your creative journey?  Have you come to understand that the journey is more important than the destination?

About Zig Ziglar

1926 - 2012

Hilary Hinton Ziglar was the tenth of twelve children born to John Silas Ziglar and Lila Wescott Ziglar.  When Ziglar was five, his family moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi where he spent most of his early childhood.  His father and sister died a year later.  Ziglar served in the United States Navy during World War II.  He married his wife, Jean, in 1946.

Zig Ziglar began his career as a salesman and eventually moved into motivational speaking. He wrote and published more than a dozen books including See you at the Top, Secrets of Closing the Sale and Confessions of a Happy Christian.

Ben Stein

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want."

 Ben Stein
American Actor, Writer, Lawyer

1944 -

Commentary

When I came out of college in 1971, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I had some vague idea about wanting to be a writer, but I had no idea on how to go about it. Remember this long before the personal computer let alone the internet. I was typing my work on a Royal typewriter. 

The only way to find jobs was through the newspaper and there were not many jobs for want-to-be writers in central Illinois, farm country. It took me four years to find a job writing and then it was an accident. I applied for for a job as a speech writer but I heard nothing. I found out later they hired a novelist with one published novel under his belt. He spent most of this time while employed working on his second novel. Three months after I applied, I received a call from a nursing home company about a job as a writer of policy and procedures manuals. I interviewed and was hired. 

I thought I would work for a year and move on to writing somewhere else. Thirty-nine years later I still work in the nursing home industry and write in my spare time. Sometimes when we don't know where we want to go, life will decide for us. And often the decision is the correct one.

If you know what it is you want to do with your life, that is great. If you don't know, don't worry. The river of life will take you where you need to go. 

Research shows that only about 2% of Americans write goals — only 2% know what they want to do with their lives.  I was 35 years old when I first heard about the importance of goal-setting in achieving one's dreams. In college I had dreamed of being a writer but at 35 was far from my dream. I had only written about 200 poems in 15 years. I set a goal to write a poem a day for a year. That year I wrote over 400 poems.

If you want to achieve your dreams, you need to turn them into goals. Goals are dreams with deadlines.

Biography

Ben Stein was born in Washington, D.C.  He was the sone of Mildred and Herbert Stein.  His father was a writer, presidential advisor and economist.  He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in economics and Yale with a law degree.  His legal career began as poverty lawyer and eventually became a trial lawyer.

Ben Stein in
Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Stein served as a speechwriter and lawyer for President Nixon and President Ford.  Time magazine speculated in 1976 that Stein might have been Deep Throat, probably in part because Stein had been a high school classmate of Bob Woodward.  Stein has repeatedly denied the accusation.  

Stein began his film career at the age of 42 as an economics teacher in the 1986 movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  He has also appeared in Seinfeld, The Mask, MacGyver, Married With Children, and Ghostbusters.  He has also written for the television industry.  

Stein has written 28 books, 7 fiction and 21 non-fiction.  His first novel, On The Brink, was co-written with his father and published in 1978.  His most recent book, How To Really Ruin Your Financial Life and Portfolio, was published in 2012.

Video
Here is Ben Stein in the movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Jim Rohn

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment."

— Jim Rohn

American Author, Motivational Speaker

1930 - 2009

Commentary:
We all have dreams and goals but many of us never achieve them because we have not mastered the art of self-discipline.  I define self-discipline as sacrificing short-term pleasure for the achievement of long-term goals.  If you want to be a novelist but you never seem to find the time to write, you will never write your novel.  If you want to be a painter but spend your time partying with friends and not painting, you may never produce any great paintings.  The arts require a lot of self-discipline.  We need to be able to sacrifice the pleasure of the moment for the achievement of long-term success.

Creative leaders can become easily sidetracked by the next creative thought or the next creative idea.  We are attracted to the energy within new creative ideas.  It is a emotional high and can be addictive.    If we are not careful we will jump from one idea to the next and never finish what we have started.  Creative leaders must master the art of self-discipline if they are to be successful.

Are you struggling with your dreams or have you mastered the art of self-discipline?  Do you procrastinate and never finish what you start or do you bring your projects in on time?  Do you let the pleasure of the moment keep you from doing the work you were meant to do?  Do you let the joy of new ideas get in the way of completing your work?  Remember self-discipline is the key to your success. 

Biography
Emanuel James Rohn was born in Yakima, Washington to Emanuel and Clara Rohn.  He was raised on a farm in Caldwell, Idaho.  At the age of 25 he became a distributor for AbundaVita.  Two years later he quit and signed up to distribute Nutri-Bio where he was mentored by John Earl Shoaff.  He built one of the largest multi-level organizations in the company and was made a Vice-President of the company because of his performance.

In the 1960's he left Nutri-Bio and became a speaker and seminar leader.  In the 1970s Rohn conducted seminars for Standard Oil.  He spent more than 40 years presenting seminars.  He has mentored and influenced Tony Robbins, Mark Victor Hansen, Jack Canfield, and Brian Tracy.  Rohn received the 1985 National Speakers Associaton CPAE Award of Excellence.  He shared his message with over 6,000 audiences and over 5 million people worldwide.

Video:
Here is Jim Rohn: 

Haruki Murakami

"Whatever it is you're seeking won't come in the form you're expecting."

Haruki Murakami
Japanese Novelist
1949 -

Commentary

We often spend much of our lives planning our lives — either by writing down goals or day dreaming about what life would be like when we are successful.  We day dream about how our life will be when we have a best-selling novel or a movie studio buys our novel to turn it into a movie.  Yet, as the popular saying goes:  life is what happens when you are planning other things.  Maybe it is the unexpected birth of a child.  Or falling in love and getting married.  Or a car accident that leaves you paralyzed.  

I have spent many of my days dreaming about being able to write full time.  And while it has never happened, I have spent over 40 years writing.  And yet, I am happy with my life.  I don't need to write full time.  An hour or two a day is enough.

As a teenager I dreamed of being a preacher, yet it has been years since I stepped inside a church.  But I have spent much of my life preaching to those who would listen.  Not, of course, in the way I imagined or my parents imagined.  What we seek does not always come in the way we imagine it would.

I do believe we receive that which we seek, but it often does not appear like we wish.  It takes on its own life, its own dimension.

What are you seeking?  What are your daydreams?  Remember life happens now, not sometime in the future.  Are you living in the present or are you living in your dreams?

Creative Practice

Spend today focused on today.  Tomorrow will come in its own time.

Biography

Murakami was born in Kyoto, Japan after World War II.  His father was the son of a Buddhist priest and his mother the daughter of a merchant.  Both of his parents taught Japanese literature.  Murakami was influenced by Western music and literature, including Kurt Vonnegut, Richard Brautigan and Jack Kerouac.  He studied drama at Waseda University.  His first job was in a record store.  He ran a coffee house and jazz bar with his wife.

Murakami did not start writing fiction until he was 29.  He was inspired to write a novel while watching a baseball game.  The novel won first prize in a literary contest.  The novel, Hear the Wind Sing was published in 1979.  He was 30.  He has published 12 novels and 3 collections of short stories since that first novel.

Harley King

Contemplation


As the winter winds whip
about the leafless trees,
bringing snow and ice,
and you sit by the fire
with a cup of hot chocolate,
reading a thriller or romance novel,
pause for a few precious minutes
and reflect on what has happened
in your life over the last year.
What are you thankful for?
What moments do you hope
will never come again?
Who do you wish you could
give a hug to at this moment?
After you have added another log
to the fire and refilled your cup,
sit back and think about
the coming year with all its hopes
and dreams.  Who are the people
most important to you and what
will you do to make them happy?
When spring overpowers the winter cold
and shoots through the frozen earth
with green leaves and lovely flowers,
will your dreams still inspire you
to raise your head and venture
forth onto the paths of tomorrow?


— Harley King

Click here to listen to a recording of my reading: Contemplation.

https://soundcloud.com/hking-3/contemplation

May 2014 be filled with hugs, joy, 
laughter, happiness, love, and peace!

Harley King

"May your dreams be larger than mountains and may you have the courage to scale their summits."

— Harley King

Speaker / Poet / Storyteller

1949 - 

Commentary

Many of us dream too small.  We don't reach high enough — far enough.  We settle for less than we want.  We settle for less than we can achieve.  Stretch your imagination.  Dream bigger than you ever thought possible.  

If you knew you wouldn't fail, what would you do?  Where would you go?  What would you achieve?  We often let our fears and doubts prevent us from dreaming big.  It is easier to settle for small dreams that we may be able to accomplish.  What are your impossible dreams?  What are your dreams that you are sure have a 99% chance of failing?  Why don't you chase those dreams?  

We all like to win — to succeed.  We hate to fail so we set small goals that we know we can achieve.  Let me give you an example.  Let's say you like to play basketball so you challenge yourself to a game of shooting 100 free throws.  You are confident that you can make at least 50% so you set a stretch goal making 70 out of 100 baskets.  This is a good goal — an achievable goal, but your dream is too small.  Dream of making 100% of your shots.  Impossible right?  Maybe.  But let's say you fail to make 100% and only make 95 shots.  You are still better off than if your goal was 70% and you made 70 shots.  Stretch yourself.  Dream gigantic dreams.  Your dreams should be bigger than life.

Creative Practice

This week make a list of your impossible dreams.  Stretch yourself.  If failure was not an option, what would you attempt to do with your life.  

Biography

Harley King is a professional speaker who has delivered over 4,500 motivational presentations and workshops on leadership, customer service, writing, art and creativity to audiences size 10 to 600. He is a poet and writer and has written over 4,000 poems and more than 100 short stories.   He have published 12 books of poetry and 2 books of non-fiction. 

"We all wear masks of various
shapes and sizes." — Harley King

During his more than sixty years on this illustrious planet, he have been gainfully employed as a carpenter, street sweeper, car hop, corn detasseler, hospital orderly, radio announcer, book editor, publisher, freelance writer, bus driver, sports writer, bookkeeper, policy and procedures writer, forms designer, marketing vice-president, corporate executive, professional speaker, facilitator, salesman, trainer, organizational development consultant, ad writer, storyteller, poet and communications executive. Some jobs he has held for a few hours and others he has held for years. He has also worked for more than thirty different bosses.   

Poetry

Moonlight

by Harley King

I write

a few words

on a torn sheet

of paper

while listening

for the sound

of your voice

calling me to dinner.

Sometimes we dream

of listening

to ourselves talk.

Sometimes we forget

we were born

to cry.

I dance

in the moonlight

and remember

the darkness

that holds

my delicate heart.

Video
Here is Harley King reading one of his poems, Indecision.

Jack London

"You can't wait for inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club."

Jack London

American Novelist / Adventurer

1876 - 1916

Commentary

Do you write or paint only when you are inspired?  Or do you make a habit of writing or painting every day?  If you wait for inspiration, you will produce very little work?  If you write every day, you will be surprised by how much you create in your lifetime.

Set yourself a goal.  Write or paint for 3o minutes a day . . . 6o minutes . . . four hours.  Or 200 words a day.  A thousand words a day.  Commit to doing a little bit every day.  Most of us will never have the time where we can devote 3 months to working on our novel.  We have to write a little bit every day.

Jack London committed himself to writing a thousand words a day, good or bad, and he produced many novels, non-fiction and short stories.  He wrote and published over 50 books in the last sixteen years of his short life.

Creative Practice

This week commit to writing or painting a certain amount every day for a month whether you are inspired or not.  

Biography

Flora Wellman
London's mother

Jack London was born in San Francisco, CA, the illegitimate son of Flora Wellman and William Chaney.  Chaney left before Jack was born and was not involved in his life.  Even later, when as a grown man, Jack wrote to him, Chaney denied being his father.  His dominating mother later married John London, a Civil War veteran, from whom Jack took his last name.  Jack was also raised by Virginia Prentiss, an ex-slave, who was an important influence in his young life.

The Londons were poor and Jack worked from a young age, helping to support the families, often for $0.10 an hour in canning pickles and often for 12 to 18 hours a day.  Child labor laws did not exist at the time.  At thirteen, Jack became a oyster pirate and late worked with the California Fish Patrol to capture pirates.  

Although he finished grade school, London was mostly self-taught.  Ina Coolbirth, a librarian at the Oakland Public Library, encouraged Jack to read and guided his early education.

At sixteen, Jack sailed with the Sophie Sutherland, a sealing schooner, to Japan.  When he returned in 1893, the nation was in a recession and there were not many jobs to be had.  London became a hobo, riding the rails across the country, meeting people who would be friends for years.  He was arrested in Buffalo, New York, for vagrancy and spend 30 days in jail.

When Jack returned to Oakland, he entered high school and contributed articles to the school magazine.  He won a $25 prize for an article he wrote on his sailing experiences and it was published in a San Francisco newspaper.  At 20, Jack was admitted to the University of California at Berkeley but left in 1897 and never finished.

At 21, Jack joined the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon.  He developed scurvy and was forced to return to Oakland.  While on this trip, he committed himself to becoming a writer.  He was paid $5 for his first published story and $40 for his second.  His first novels, The Cruise of the Dazzler and A Daughter of the Snows, were published in 1902.  The Call of the Wild appeared in 1903.  The Sea-Wolf was published in 1904.  White Fang came out in 1906.

Jack and Charmian
in Hawaii (1915)

London married Elizabeth Maddem on April 7, 1900.  They had two daughters together, Joan and Becky.  After divorcing Bessie, London married Charmian Kittredge in 1905 and they remained together for the rest of his life, but had no surviving children.  Charmian and Jack traveled extensively including trips to Hawaii and the South Seas.  Jack learned to surf in Hawaii.

In 1905 London purchased a ranch in Glen Ellen, CA which became his home for the rest of his life.  While he traveled often, he would always come back home.  He build a stone mansion on the ranch that was destroyed by fire before they moved in. 

Jack London died on November 22, 1916 at the age of forty.  He was suffering from dysentery, uremia and late stage alcoholism.  He may have accidentally caused his own death with a morphine overdose.  London has been quoted as saying, "I believe that when I am dead, I am dead.  I believe that with my death I am as much obliterated as the last mosquito you and I squashed."  Yet, Jack London continues to live and inspire others with his stories and novels.

Source:

Haley, James L., Wolf. (I recently finished listening to this excellent biography of Jack London and recommend that others read it.)

Novels & Short Stories Online:

To Build a Fire

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/To_Build_a_Fire

Gutenberg ebooks

http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/l#a120

Note: 

While I have seen some of the movies based on Jack London's work, I have never read any of his novels or short stories.  

Fiona Gardner

"One of the most important things about childhood is imagination.  All artists, on some level, are adults who still have access to their imagination, who have figured out a way to carry that into being an adult."

Fiona Gardner

American Photographer / Artist

Commentary

Potential creative projects are all around us.  It takes imagination to find them.  Fiona Gardner found hers at Ellen's Stardust Diner in New York in form of Miss Subways.  She spent several years of her life working on the project with Amy Zimmer.  

We all have ideas, but most of us never act upon those ideas, and if we act upon an idea, we often don't finish the project.  I have started two novels that I have never finished.  I began a haiku notecard business using my haiku with artwork that never made a sale.  I still have cards sitting on a shelf in a closet.  I had an idea for a sports newspaper that focused only on local sports like Little League, softball teams, etc.  I never even got to first base.  I struck out before I got started.  I once had the idea for a book about the history of Illinois High School Tournament basketball.  I wrote to the state high school basketball association proposing that they fund my writing of the book but received no answer.  A year later they published their own history using a retired sports writer.  They stole my idea and didn't even acknowledge the theft.

But there are projects that I have finished.  My wife had an idea about writing a book on pet loss and the grieving people experience.  We spend four years on the book and interviewed over 100 people.  We published the hardback version in 1998 and the paperback in 2000.  The paperback, It's Okay To Cry, can still be found on Amazon.  The driving force behind the book was my wife.  She held my feet to the fire until it was finished.

We all have ideas.  The key is acting upon our ideas.  What ideas have you had that are still resting in a file folder somewhere?  What ideas have you started but never finished?  What projects do you need to take off the back burner and finish?

Creative Practice
Review your files for past ideas that you have never brought to completion.  Choose the one that you are most passionate about and set a target date for its completion.  Begin working on the project this week.

Biography

Fiona Gardner is an artist and photographer based in New York.  She received a BFA in painting from Rhode Island School of Design and a MFA in photography from Columbia.  Her work focuses on women and performance in constructed environments.  She has photographed mermaids, Southern belles and Miss Subways.  Miss Subways was a beauty contest which ran between 1941 - 1976 in New York and used to promote the subways.

Video:

Here is journalist Amy Zimmer talking about Miss Subways.  Amy and Fiona collaborated to create the book, Meet Miss Subways: New York's Beauty Queens 1941 - 1976.

Reference Links:

Interview: 

http://www.thelmagazine.com/TheMeasure/archives/2012/10/19/interview-artist-fiona-gardner-on-meet-miss-subways

NPR Story: (See some of the Miss Subways, then and now.)

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2012/12/20/167659444/miss-subways-a-trip-back-in-time-to-new-yorks-melting-pot

New York Times (Nine Miss Subways)

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/12/29/nyregion/thecity/20071230_MISSSUBWAYS_SLIDESHOW_index.html

Ben Stein

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want."

— Ben Stein

American Actor, Writer

1944 -

When I came out of college in 1971, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.  I had some vague idea about wanting to be a writer, but I had no idea on how to go about it.  Remember this long before the personal computer let alone the internet.  I was typing my work on a Royal typewriter.  The only way to find jobs was through the newspaper and there were not many jobs for want-to-be writers in central Illinois, farm country.  It took me four years to find a job writing and then it was an accident.  I applied for for a job as a speech writer but I heard nothing.  I found out later they hired a novelist with one published novel under his belt.  He spent most of this time while employed working on his second novel.  Three months after I applied, I received a call from a nursing home company about a job as a writer of policy and procedures manuals.  I interviewed and was hired.  I thought I would work for a year and move on to writing somewhere else.  Thirty-seven years later I still work in the nursing home industry and write in my spare time.  Sometimes when we don't know where we want to go, life will decide for us.  And often the decision is the correct one.  

If you know what it is you want to do with your life, that is great.  If you don't know, don't worry.  The river of life will take you where you need to go.  And if you haven't written down your goals, check out my article on this page about goals.  I was thirty-five before I learned the importance of goal-setting.  If you set goals, you will accomplish a lot more.

Napoleon Hill

"The starting point of all achievement is desire.  Keep this constantly in mind.  Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat."

— Napoleon Hill

American Author

1883 - 1970

The difference between the winners and losers is in the amount of desire they have.  Do you have the desire to do what it takes to become successful or do you give up too quickly?  Many people have dreams, hopes and even goals, but few have an abundance of desire.  For only if you have desire are you willing to make the sacrifices needed to be successful.

Michael Korda

"By concentrating our efforts upon a few major goals, our efficiency soars, our projects are completed, we are going somewhere."

— Michael Korda

English Editor & Writer

1933 - 

Many people try to do too much — set too many goals for themselves — and as a result they are pulled in too many directions and accomplish too little.  You will do better if you concentrate on a few key goals.  I usually focus on one goal at a time.  I don't want to be distracted and pulled in too many directions.  I encourage you to narrow your focus to 2 - 3 goals.  Life keeps us busy and demands a lot of us.  According to research, only about 2% of Americans actually take the time to write down their goals.  And some people teach that you should write goals in each major area of your life.  And while it is okay to write down multiple goals, most people can only focus and concentrate on one thing at a time.  So don't over burden yourself and expect more than you can deliver.  Achieving your dreams comes one building block at a time.